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Rivers and inland lakes are almost impossible to find.
This totally kills any chances to irrigate and grow your cities to a reasonable size. It also means that having irrigatable lands near your starting point has an unbalancing effect.
Out of six games on a tiny map (with continents & 70% water), only twice has my starting continent had a river (once, behind enemy lines) or an inland lake (once, near my starting point).
Once again, I don't think the original design instead for you to snake 30+ irrigated tiles throughout your empire from a single lake.
Note: on a small map (the next size up), rivers seem to show up more frequently.
This totally kills any chances to irrigate and grow your cities to a reasonable size. It also means that having irrigatable lands near your starting point has an unbalancing effect.
Out of six games on a tiny map (with continents & 70% water), only twice has my starting continent had a river (once, behind enemy lines) or an inland lake (once, near my starting point).
Once again, I don't think the original design instead for you to snake 30+ irrigated tiles throughout your empire from a single lake.
Note: on a small map (the next size up), rivers seem to show up more frequently.